Caring for Birds

✨Birds are feathered people. Let's treat them like it.

Uncoated foil is safe. The non-stick coating is what is unsafe.

If you're roasting veggies inside, regular aluminum foil without any coating is perfectly safe for your end-of-summer side dishes.

Always beware of using anything with a non-stick coating around your feathered friends.

Uncoated foil is safe. The non-stick coating is what is unsafe.

From “Thanksgiving dinner” to a lifetime of safety 🦃❤️ Two years ago, Grace, Joy, Justice, Patience, and Forgiveness were being raised for the holiday table. Today, they’re spending their lives in sanctuary, surrounded by friends, comfort, and endless cuddles! These incredible birds are curious, playful, and living the lives they always deserved. Their lives show just how wonderful turkeys can be when given the chance. And every time we choose compassion, we help create a world where turkeys can live with love and respect, just like these girls 💚

TikTok Is Obsessed With Talking Parrots. It's Fueling a Global Black Market A yearlong investigation into the African-grey trade reveals poachers, egg smugglers, wealthy businessmen — and multitudes who want a talking bird

PLEASE be safe this season and check your cooking products.

If you're roasting veggies inside, regular aluminum foil without any coating is perfectly safe for your end-of-summer side dishes.

Always beware of using anything with a non-stick coating around your feathered friends.

Uncoated foil is safe. The non-stick coating is what is unsafe.

Does you bird dunk its food? Dunking is considered a foraging innovation in animals. Proposed functions of dunking food in a medium prior to consumption include: soaking, cleaning, flavoring, drowning prey, and transporting liquid. Dunking behavior has been reported in a group of captive Goffin’s cockatoos to soak dry food. In a newer observational study, captive Goffin’s cockatoos were found to dunk food in blueberry flavored soy yogurt more often than neutral yogurt with the likely function to flavor their food.

Learn more: Zewald JS, Auersperg AMI. Innovative flavoring behavior in Goffin’s cockatoos. Current Biology. 2025;35(5):1107-1112.

Incredibly important post. Please click through.

Think about the birds when you’re decorating this year 🕸️

Missing the birds while we are closed? Looking for a quick lesson on raptors for your classroom, homeschool group, or family? Look no further than our brand new virtual behind-the-scenes field trip program! This 30-minute virtual program showcases animal care and our resident birds. You’ll get to see the Raptor Trauma Clinic team flight test an Eastern Screech-Owl, feed a Red-shouldered Hawk, and X-ray a Burrowing Owl! You’ll also get to meet resident birds who aren’t usually on, get an update on our big construction project, and visit our amazing flight barn.

This program comes with a packet of worksheets appropriate for students in 3rd through 9th grades to turn this experience into a full lesson. All this is just $50, available now at https://tickets.audubon.org/events/c124f76f-8641-116b-f158-4d65204e43d7?tg=678d4cfd-de9a-50af-8e67-4d3db279b06e!

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Great news!

African Grey parrots get new protections in the Democratic Republic of Congo🚨
We’re extremely pleased to share that the Endangered African Grey Parrot, one of the world’s most heavily trafficked parrot species, is now fully protected by law in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This important ruling makes it a criminal offence to capture, possess, kill, sell, or transport the species within the DRC.

Grey Parrots have been heavily exploited and under intense pressure from the wildlife trade for decades, alongside severe habitat loss that has caused the species to disappear entirely from parts of its range.

The decision was welcomed by Dr Rowan Martin, WPT’s director of Africa Region and Bird Trade programmes. “This is a hugely significant step towards safeguarding the species across vast swathes of the Congo basin where trapping has been rampant and has devastated wild populations. However there remains work to be done. Large numbers of wild animals are legally exported from the DRC every year and often Grey parrots are laundered as other species. It’s critical that law enforcement efforts and surveillance are ramped up to ensure this new legislation is effective”

Learn more about how your support of the World Parrot Trust is helping African Grey Parrots in the wild by visiting our website 👉https://parrots.org/about-wpt/programs-projects/grey-parrot-program/

Keel scores!

When we describe a bird as "skinny," what specific criteria do we use to make that assessment? A slide from the Florida Wildlife's Rehabbers symposium sheds light on this process, highlighting the importance of evaluating the sternum on a scale of one to five. This scale ranges from one, representing the thinnest birds, to five, representing the heaviest. Most wild birds score around three, 3+ indicating a moderate weight. However, determining a bird's weight solely through visual inspection is not sufficient; it is necessary to physically examine the sternum to assess its sharpness. As a result, birds scoring below three are not candidates for release or renesting until they reach a healthier weight. The rehabilitation process for underweight birds is particularly challenging.